Hi Pete,
On Sunday 19 March 2006 20:08, Pete Holsberg wrote:
> Gaffer wrote:
> > Hi Pete,
> >
> > On Saturday 18 March 2006 17:56, Pete Holsberg wrote:
> >> Wayne Johnson wrote:
> >>>> Not if you can copy the installation files from the hidden
> >>>> partition or the restore cd, both of which I've done
> >>>> successfully in the past. Don't forget to copy the correct
> >>>> driver files as well. ;-)
<--Snipped-->
> > Gaffer wrote:
:top
> > You need an operating system that can see all the partitions !!
> > After that its easy to copy whatever you want.
>
> Doesn't Windows XP Pro see all the partitions?
No ! Not usually !!
> > As far as Dell is concerned I belive they use two hidden
> > partitions, one containing an image of the copy of Wins that was
> > originally installed and one that contains Wins plus all the driver
> > files and some diagnostic software. So that you can just replace a
> > bad driver, DLL or whatever.
>
> How do I get to those partitions??
goto top;
> > The first is essentially a clean install, the second wouldn't be!
> > Also I don't think the second is a pre-registered Wins where as the
> > image restore probably would be !!
>
> I'm confused. What do you mean by "the first" and "the second"?
Read "Partitions"
> Thanks.
Dell in some cases, craftily put two hidden partitions on the hard disk.
One of them is just an image file, and is used to restore the machine
to a factory clean condition. It does this by erasing all your data,
wiping the hard drive, visible partition, and copying the image back
onto it. This image is often a pre-registered/activated install !
The second is as I explained earlier. The one that contains Wins plus
all the driver files and some diagnostic software. So that you can
just replace a bad driver, DLL or whatever without a full restore!
I suppose that you could also do a clean install from this partition,
and then install the programmes that you wanted without having all the
junk a full restore would put back. This kind of install would need to
be re-registered using product activation !
Often these partitions contain several gigabytes of data. In my case a
DVD full.
HTH.
Best Regards:
Derrick.
Pontefract Linux Users Group.
plug at play-net.co.uk
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